


the ebb and flow of decades and the endless crash of love

by mouseymightymarvellous



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Friends to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 02:43:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17153795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mouseymightymarvellous/pseuds/mouseymightymarvellous
Summary: Shikamaru finds himself walking alongside her on this path of life, and dares to reach out a hand to hold. (Sakura's been scared of many things, but the shape of this boy's hands will never be one of them.)a naruto secret santa 2018 gift for oceans-pebble





	the ebb and flow of decades and the endless crash of love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Oceans_pebble](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oceans_pebble/gifts).



**LVII.**

“...an inspiration to the field, and I am so proud to have had the chance to be her mentor, her student, but most of all her friend. It is my pleasure to present this year’s Senju Award for Medical Excellence to Doctor Sakura Haruno!”

They’ve known for weeks, now, that Sakura was receiving the award, but Shikamaru burns with pride as he hears the room go up in cheers for her, his most spectacular wife.

She smiles fiercely at Shizune who is waiting up on the stage for her, before turning her wildfire grin on him. In a rare display of public affection, Shikamaru presses a kiss to her palm.

Distantly, he hears someone whoop, and he knows that it’s Naruto, cheering somewhere in the background.

“Congratulations,” Shikamaru tells Sakura. “You deserve this.”

Her smile splits her face even wider, pride and joy and all the decades of her hard-work blazed across her skin for the room to see.

Shikamaru loves the creases at the corners of her eyes and the stubborn tilt of her chin.

“I know,” she answers. And then Sakura stands, once again ready to take the world by storm.

He always knew she would.

 

**XIV.**

“This is Sakura,” Ino declares, “keep watch over her for me, so that she doesn’t get hurt. Auntie is on a warpath about the flower arrangements, and Sakura doesn’t deserve to be yelled at when she did nothing wrong.”

Shikamaru sits up, blurry eyed and confused, as Ino nearly pushes a pink-haired waif into his lap.

He’s usually much better at hearing Ino coming, even asleep, and getting himself out of her way.

Also, Ino usually doesn’t deposit girls into his keeping.

She still hasn’t forgiven him for the Great Pyjama Party Incident when they were seven.

“I’m not an invalid,” the Waif mutters, crossing her arms and glaring at Ino’s back as she saunters away to go head off destruction, or possibly just redirect it to her own uses.

Shikamaru almost whistles out of respect: Waif sure does have some venomous green eyes on her. He half expects Ino to drop dead.

Ino, unfortunately, is indestructible, and Waif turns her dangerous eyes on him.

“Huh,” she says, “you’re Shikamaru. I was expecting you to be taller.”

Shikamaru blinks and lies back down.

He is not awake enough for this.

He hears a soft exhalation and feels something warm along his arm, just out of reach.

“Don’t worry,” Waif tells him from where she’s lying next to him, “it could be worse, at least you’ll grow out of being short. I’m pretty sure I won’t grow out of pink hair.”

“It’s pretty,” Shikamaru says, reflexively, because it’s just the truth, but oh-- he just said that out loud, didn’t he.

Waif’s breath catches. It almost sounds like it hurts.

Ino is going to murder him.

Slowly.

Maybe Shikamaru can just fall asleep forever.

Or, like, get Chouji over here to make Waif stop crying and to hide him when Ino inevitably marches back over to murder him.

“Oh,” Waif finally manages. And then, soft and warm enough to knock Shikamaru over if he weren’t already lying down, “thanks.”

Shikamaru shrugs and resists the urge to flail about helplessly, trying to somehow get this whole encounter back on track when it never was on track to begin with.

Maybe they’ll never see each other again?

 

**XV.**

Completely unsurprisingly, because Ino is involved and Ino might exist solely to ensure that Shikamaru never has a moment’s peace, they see each other again.

A lot.

No, Ino, Shikamaru absolutely does not take up smoking so that he can avoid looking Sakura in the eye. That would be stupid, and Shikamaru is not stupid.

 

**XVII.**

“You know that cigarettes are, like, proven to not only cause cancer but to have multiple effects on health and drastically reduce healing times and lifespan, right? Because, despite what Ino says, I’m pretty sure you’re not an idiot, Shikamaru.”

Shikamaru is mature and responsible and not an asshole, so he refrains from blowing smoke into Sakura’s face.

“You sound like my mother,” he says.

“Your mom is the coolest lady in the world, and she, like, secretly runs half the country in her spare time. That is literally the best compliment you’ve ever given me.”

Shikamaru coughs abruptly, and Sakura very patiently and with much schadenfreude watches him suffer.

“Mom doesn’t secretly run half the country.”

Sakura raises an eyebrow at him.

The gesture is strangely familiar.

“Sure she doesn’t,” Sakura says. “Your mom totally isn’t a semi-retired spy. Nope. Just a housewife. Who knows how to throw knives and teaches all your female friends how to break a man’s arm. Mhmm. And sometimes gets airlifted by a helicopter to consult with the Hokage or the Daimyo. Yup.”

There’s a moment, where Shikamaru is suddenly, terrifyingly, completely aware that he could lie to Sakura.

He doesn’t know how he knows, but he knows that would break something.

They aren’t even friends, really. Sakura is Ino’s, but she isn’t his friend, exactly.

But it would break something.

Sakura is just looking at him, green eyes behind candy-floss hair.

Shikamaru doesn’t know what would break, but he knows suddenly, desperately, that he doesn’t want to lose it.

He nods.

When Sakura smiles, it’s too many teeth to be pretty, and Shikamaru’s heart skips a beat.

 

**XIX.**

When Shikamaru comes home from university for the holidays, the first thing he finds is Sakura sitting in his kitchen, laughing.

He feels waterlogged and sleep-heavy, confused and out of his depth and drowning in it.

“Sakura,” he manages, and then the bag slung across his shoulder slips down to the floor with a clatter.

Sakura turns her laughing eyes on him, catches sight of his predicament, and starts to giggle harder.

Shikamaru doesn’t know why she’s here, but it feels like homecoming.

 

**XXIII.**

It’s Ino’s fault, Shikamaru is pretty sure, that Sakura somehow gets installed as his and Chouji’s third roommate for her first year of med school.

When Shikamaru rants about interfering, busy-body women who don’t know how to keep their noses to themselves, Chouji just watches on in amusement.

Sakura is at the library, because Shikamaru is not an asshole and he’s not going to complain about her when she’s home: about her being here and her shampoo taking up too much room in the bathroom or the fact that she leaves tea cups all over any surface that stands still for long enough or that Shikamaru can’t get the image of her sprawled on the couch sleeping after a movie out of his head.

“Mhmm,” Chouji interrupts, “I see.”

“Thank you!”

“So, when are you going to tell her you’re in love with her?”

 

**XXV.**

“Ino,” Naruto demands, horror bleeding through every syllable, “what have you done?”

“What?” Sakura demands. “Don’t be such a sore loser, Naruto.”

“Ino! I’ll never win another game in my life? Why did you have to get them together? They’re unstoppable!”

Shikamaru only doesn’t roll his eyes because Naruto’s dramatics aren’t worth the effort.

Ino sniffs. “Unfortunately, if you’re going to blame anyone, it’s going to have to be Chouji. He’s the matchmaker, here. These two idiots are too stupid for me to bother with.”

“Chouji!” Naruto throws himself across the table, scattering game pieces everywhere, to grasp Chouji by his shirt.

Chouji very calmly pulls Naruto the rest of the way over the table so that he isn’t sprawled awkwardly and, to Sai’s obvious dismay, not less likely to trip spectacularly trying to right himself.

“Think we could take over the world together?” Sakura whispers in his ear.

“You could manage at least half,” Shikamaru agrees.

 

**XXVII.**

Shikamaru catches her when Sakura comes flying off the stage, diploma in hand.

And he kisses her, because he gets to. Because he’s hers.

He gets her for a breath of a moment before their friends and family crash down on them, shouting congratulations and dripping flowers.

“You’re going to take the world by storm, Doctor Haruno,” Shikamaru whispers to her in the breath before she’s swept away.

Sakura smiles at him as the crowd descends, her green eyes only for him.

 

**LVII.**

Shikamaru does a lot with his life.

He’s proudest that he gets to live it alongside Sakura.

(She never does mature out of her pink hair and her green eyes only get more venomous. Shikamaru loves her, and together they grow.)


End file.
